Fuzz-rockers Shredd-y for Tooth and Claw

Fuzzy Cumbernauld garage-rockers bring their chaotic ruckus to Inverness this Friday. Kyle Walker caught up with the band to find out what the city can expect...Shredd

Hello chaps, cheers for answering these! Whereabouts are you reading this from?

Sunny Glasgow, slightly hungover on a Saturday morning!

You’re back at the Tooth and Claw again next week (Friday, February 15) – looking forward to being back? What can Inverness expect from you this trip up?

We are, definitely! We’ve always had fun in Inverness and we’re sure this won’t be any different. Since we were last up (for XpoNorth) we’ve released our second EP, so there’s some new tunes but still the same high energy levels!

So talk me through a little bit of Shredd history – how did the three of you meet? And what was the point that made you decide to start a band?

We are all originally from Cumbernauld. Mark (bassist) and Harv (guitarist/singer) played in bands together when they were younger, they knew of me (Calum, drummer) through the local music scene and the bands I played in. Cut to years later and we all happened to end up working in the same place, got to know each other a bit better and decided to just have a bit of a mess about in a rehearsal room and it turned into Shredd.

Since forming in 2017, it’s fair to say you’ve made a good go of things – SAMA award in 2017, two EPs out already, playing at Xpo and Freakender and alongside bands like Fontaines DC and Black Lips! What do you think it is about what you do – your music, your gigs, everything – that’s had people sit up and take such enthusiastic notice?

It’s difficult to say without asking the people that come to the shows I guess, but we’ve always had a simple approach to it and that’s just to keep doing what we enjoy. The songs we write and the gigs we play, we do it because we love doing it so the fact that people have connected with it is just a bonus.

How would you describe yourself and your music as a band? Who would you say are your big influences when crafting your tunes?

Musically we go with garage rock, that’s probably the simplest way to describe our sound. Our influences are pretty wide ranging but there’s obvious ones, Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall and King Gizzard to name a few.

You’ve been racking up the miles over the last few months – with shows in Edinburgh, Paisley, up here, and down in Manchester either happened or on the horizon. What are your favourite things about going out on tour to play live? And how do you wile away the hours on the motorways?

We love doing out of town shows, we think it’s really important to get out of Glasgow and do gigs – it's good to get your music out to different places but it’s also just a lot of fun, we get to see cool places and meet cool people. We try and travel together and if we can then just stick on a playlist and chat, not as rock and roll as others I'm sure.

What’s been the best gig that you’ve ever played? And what’s been the weirdest?

We’ve had loads of amazing shows so it’s difficult, the ones that stand out are our EP/single launch shows in Glasgow. We’ve been lucky enough to have sold out some brilliant venues in Glasgow for the launches and we’ve had great shows. Our show at XPO North last year was actually a highlight as well, we were in this tiny bar and it was so full no one could really move, that was a lot of fun.

Not sure about the weirdest show, as I say we’ve been quite lucky and mostly had great gigs. I guess the show at XPO comes to mind again - our car broke down on the way there, we got picked up by a recovery guy who was about 900 years old and the van he was driving seemed even older. He drove us back to Glasgow where we hired a car, bombed it up to Inverness and arrived at this tiny bar made into a venue for the night, we weren’t sure what was going to happen but it ended up being amazing. It wasn’t weird in a negative way, just the situation around it.

As a band, what has been the best bit of advice you’ve been given so far, and why was it so important for you?

That’s a tough one, our approach is very much just about having a good time and making music we enjoy which we’ve always been encouraged to do because I think it shows in our live shows.

What’s been the best/nicest thing somebody has said about Shredd?

When we supported Black Lips in Glasgow a guy (who is now a friend) came to speak to us after the show, he had been really keen to see us for ages and had travelled up from Manchester because it was the first show we’d played he’d been able to make, that was cool.

With it officially being 2019 now, what are your plans throughout the rest of the year?

Well as you said we’re doing some travelling for shows just now, that will be us up until the end of March. Beyond that we’ll be releasing some new music, playing some festivals and just doing as many shows as possible before the end of the year.

Shredd play The Tooth and Claw tonight, with support from Monsters in the Ballroom and Liam Ross. Doors open 8pm and tickets cost £4.